Obsession
by Laree
Summary: * Yuki-Shuichi with some OC-Shuichi later on* A fan obsessed with Shuichi would do just about anything to make the rock star his. *Part Two Up*
1. Part One

Hey ^__^ This is my first Gravitation fic here so I would really appreciate feedback on the characterization of the people, stuff like that. Please, please tell me if there is anything wrong with some stuff because as of yet, I'm not really that familiar with the Gravitation fandom, therefore, my need for your help and suggestions ^__^ Heehee... erm...This is promising to be a pretty long fic, this is only the first part of I don't know how many...I hope you guys enjoy it ^_^ Please tell me what you think of it ^__^ Comments and suggestions would be greatly, greatly appreciated! And by the way, standard disclaimers and all of that apply. If you want to send me comments or anything, just email me at lareemackie@hotmail.com ^__^ or better yet, just press the review button down below! Thanks guys! 

Laree ^__^ 

Obsession   
Part One   


~**~ 

Slim fingers flew deftly over the keyboards of the computer, bright blue eyes fixed eagerly on the image that was being loaded onto the screen. Clucking his tongue in annoyance, Kobayashi Ruiji wiggled his mouse around on his table in a futile attempt to get the web page to load faster. He pounded his palm down against the surface of the table in frustration when this didn't seem to help any. 

Forcing himself to take deep, calming breaths before he snapped and finally did something that he might regret later on, such as hurling his coffee mug through the computer monitor, he sat back on his chair, and watched as slowly, but surely, the face of the object of adoration came into view. 

Shindou Shuichi… 

The sight of the Japanese Rock idol smiling up at him was enough to take his breath away. That smile… There was nothing else like it in this world. Even through a photograph posted on Bad Luck's official website, you could see the sheer joy, the energy and basic zest for life emanating from that beautiful, all out smile. " Another one for my collection!" He declared, grabbing the picture's print out as soon as it emerged from the printer. Taking out a pair of scissors from within his desk, he began to carefully clip the picture out, as he sang along to the Bad Luck CD that was blaring out from his stereo in the background. 

A lot of people had told him before that his obsession with the young rocker was rather…unhealthy, to put it lightly. They had told him that it wasn't normal for the walls of his room to be plastered with hundreds of pictures of the pink haired performer, it wasn't right for him to be so engrossed in thoughts of Shuichi Shindou that he had let his school work suffer until the teachers in his college had finally recommended a year off for him to try and get his priorities straight, it wasn't normal for him to be devoting every single waking minute to this man. But he didn't care what those people, who thought that they were giving him all of that unwanted advise for his own good, thought. 

How could they even begin to understand the bond that he shared with Shindou Shuichi? Sure, the guy might not even be aware of his existence right then, that could be easily remedied soon enough, but those songs…those songs that he wrote, that he _sang_, he could tell that they were meant especially for him, that they had been _written_ for him, _meant_ for him. Otherwise, how come he could relate to them so much? How come the messages of the songs just struck him right at the guts whenever he heard them? 

He was sure that fate meant for him to be with the young rock idol. But since fate was doing such a lousy job in bringing him together with the man who he considered to be his reason for living, why shouldn't he intervene? He would just push things along a little, help himself out a bit… 

His lips pulled up into a small smile as he pushed his light brown hair back so that he could get a better view of the photo that he had printed out just a few moments before. The guitarist and keyboardist of the band were also with Shuichi but he only had eyes for the small, pink haired youth. Soon enough, tomorrow to be exact, he would get to meet his idol. He had been preparing for this moment for months and he wasn't about to mess things up after all the time that he had spent tracking Shuichi Shindou all around Tokyo, getting to know his schedule, his favorite haunts. 

Soon, the man that millions all over Japan adored, would be made aware of his existence. With this sole thought running through his mind, Ruiji got up from his seat, after having stuck a piece of sticky tape onto the back of the picture, and almost reverently stuck it onto the wall, which was already covered with enough posters and other printouts as it was. He stepped back to survey his work, his hand reaching out to gently brush a finger against the image of his idol's face, before he murmured softly, " Soon…"   


~**~   


" Hiro! I'm _bored_!" 

There it was. The pathetic little whine that, even after all of these years, never failed to get into his nerves. Nakano Hiroshi groaned inwardly as he watched his best friend roll off the couch where he had been lounging about, and bound over to where Hiro was sprawled onto an armchair, lazily flipping through the channels on T.V. He pointedly ignored the face that was thrust only a few inches from his own. " You know, Shu, between you and Yuki, I would have thought that you would have had enough money to invest on a nice, entertaining satellite dish…" He commented, having decided that there was nothing worth watching on all the local and cable channels, he settled once again on the Disney Channel, which he had been watching in the first place before he had decided to see what else was on. 

" Hiro! I'm _bored_!" Shindou Shuichi repeated doggedly, tugging on the arm of his childhood friend. He refused to be ignored in his time of need. 

" I know. I heard you the first time. What do you want me to do about it?" 

" I don't know! But I didn't invite you over here just so that you could sit there watching the television all day! I mean, there's only so much of the Disney Channel that a guy can take!" Letting out a loud sound of frustration, Shuichi wrestled the remote control out of Hiro's hand and switched off the television set. He was going to go crazy if he had to go through another Donald Duck cartoon. He knew he would. Oh, he liked the Disney Channel well enough, he watched it whenever Yuki wasn't around to tell him that he was going to rot what was left of his brain by watching those inane cartoons, but he had had enough after two hours of Hiro chuckling over the antics of the cartoon characters on the screen, when his best friend could have been lavishing all of his attention on his poor, lonely self. " I'm _bored_! I'm _lonely_! I. Want. _Yuki_!" The name of his lover had been wailed out dramatically, vaguely reminding Hiro of wolves howling out to the moon. Having finished his pitiful little monologue, Shuichi threw himself onto the floor of the apartment, flailing his arms and legs about like a toddler in the midst of a very bad temper tantrum. He raised his head a little, so that he could catch a glimpse of Hiro and gauge his best friend's reaction, and was slightly gratified by the softening of the guitarist's face. 

Just as a man could only take so much of Disney's disgustingly over cutesified characters, a person could also take only so much of Shindou Shuichi and his whining at a time. Though Hiro's resistance to Shuichi's ear-piercing wails were slightly higher than that of other people's, he still had his limit. And right then, he had reached it. He let out a sigh of defeat. Damn Yuki Eiri for going off on that book signing tour and leaving Shuichi behind. A Shuichi without his Yuki made for a bored Shuichi, and a bored Shuichi made for some potentially very dangerous situations… " All right, so what does my spoiled rotten best friend want to do, then?" And Shuichi _was_ spoiled by everyone. Even Yuki tended to indulge the young rock star's whims once in a while. 

" _Anything_ that will get my mind off Yuki!" 

And that seemed to be a very good idea to Hiro. Maybe if he managed to get that good for nothing romance novelist out of his best friend's mind, Shuichi would stop asking him what he thought Yuki was doing every few seconds, as if he even _cared_. " Want to watch some Nittle Grasper music videos?" That had always managed to get Shuichi back to his usual, bouncy self whenever he was depressed. He couldn't stay wallowing in his pool of self-pity with his idol, Ryuichi Sakuma's voice blaring out of the entertainment system. 

Shuichi sat up, a small pout on his pink lips. " I can't do that. All the Nittle Grasper songs remind me of Yuki and how he always comes out of his study yelling for me to turn the volume to the damn T.V down…" For some weird reason, Shuichi seemed to treasure this memory of Yuki yelling at him. This only managed to prove to Hiro just how twisted his whole relationship with the novelist was. 

" All right, then let's go over to Ryuichi-san's right now and play with Kumagorou!" He had been reduced to this: A baby-sitter taking care of a pink haired little boy, suggesting that they go over to the home of another little boy, this time a green haired one, to play with a pink stuffed bunny. 

" We can't. Tatsuha is most probably there trying to get Ryuichi to do perverted things with him and I don't _want_ to see Tatsuha… Tatsuha looks too much like Yuki for his own good!" 

" Want me to dye Tatsuha's hair blond and give him contact lenses so that you can pretend that he's Yuki? Would that make you feel better?" 

" Do you remember what happened the last time that Tatsuha pretended to be his brother?" 

Hiro grimaced, recalling the time that Shuichi and Yuki's relationship had been accidentally outed on National T.V.   
" You're right. _Very_ bad idea… Let's just get out of this apartment already, okay? Of all the days that K had to call off practice it had to be today, when there's no Yuki around to keep you busy and there's basically nothing else for you to do…" 

" I know…" Shuichi wailed. Why did Yuki have to leave him? It wasn't that he didn't appreciate Hiro keeping him company and everything, but Hiro wasn't _Yuki_ of the cold, piercing, golden eyes. Hiro couldn't yell at him the way that Yuki could…Hiro couldn't hold him the way that Yuki did, and he couldn't make him feel the way Yuki's expert hands could. Now he knew how Yuki must feel when he was off on one of his concert tours, presuming that Yuki actually _missed_ him on those occasions. 

" Come on, Shu. You've managed to live without Yuki before. You should be able to do that now for just a couple of more days! Then the guy will be back, meaner that ever after five days of being on the road, and then he'll yell at you all you want!" 

" I know, I know…" frowning slightly, Shuichi sat back onto his heels, his eyes zoning in on a silver key ring resting on the coffee table. The rather rusty wheels and cogs in his mind began to turn slowly then as he perused Yuki's car keys… " Hiro-kun?" 

" Yes?" 

" You know how to drive, right?" 

" Yeap." 

A manic smile forming on Shuichi's lips, he lunged forward and grabbed the keys. " Then teach me!" He exclaimed excitedly, jumping up onto his feet and pulling a startled Hiro off his seat. He threw the keys to his best friend, Hiro staring down dumbly at the little, metal things in his hand. [1] 

" Have you gone absolutely _mad_?" The guitarist demanded. From the way that the guy was smiling, that seemed to be the case. " These are the keys to his Benz! He _loves_ that car! He takes better care of it than he does _you_!" Instantly, Hiro knew that that had been the wrong thing to say from the way that his best friend's face had fallen. 

Shuichi turned big, hurt violet eyes towards his best friend. They shimmered slightly in the light, like the eyes of a Shoujo anime character would. " Please, Hiro-kun! You said that you would try and help me get my mind off Yuki, and this is how you can do it!" 

" By letting you drive us off to our potential deaths? And Shuichi, you need learners permit and all that crap! You can't just suddenly up and decide that you want to learn how to drive! Besides, Yuki will kill you if anything happens to his car!" 

Once more, the pink haired singer turned his pitiful, puppy dog eyes onto his friend with full force. " Please, Hiro-kun!" 

He knew that it was no use trying to resist Shuichi. Sooner or later, he would end up caving in to whatever the guy wanted, so he guessed that it would be much easier to just agree to his latest whim this early on… " Fine, fine. At least if you crash the car, _you're_ going to have to be the one to explain everything to Yuki!"   


~**~   


Never in his life had Hiro ever experienced such sheer, and utter terror. There had been that one time, when he was six years old, when he had been swimming around in some beach and he had been caught in an undercurrent. He had thought that he would die back then, but that couldn't even begin to compare to the horror that he felt right at this moment, with Shuichi behind the steering wheel of the black Mercedes… 

" Am I doing okay, Hiro-kun?" Shuichi demanded as he took a sharp curve, sending Hiro smashing against the passenger side door. 

Too scared to speak, Hiro merely nodded and clutched onto the sides of his seat as his best friend over took a Honda dawdling before them. " I…is this your first time driving, Shu?" 

" No. Yuki tried to teach me before but he gave up after a couple of lessons. He said that he had too much to live for at the moment…" Shuichi actually looked sort of cute, hunched over the steering wheel like that with his pink tongue poking out from between his lips in a show of concentration. But Hiro was too preoccupied by his impending death to pay much attention to this… 

Come to think of it, he also had too much to live for right then. He had his promising relationship with Ayaka, and Bad Luck was at the height of its popularity. He didn't think that their band would be able to continue if ever Suguru were to be left behind without a vocalist and a guitarist, so for his sake, Shuichi's and the youngest member of Bad Luck, he had to get Shuichi off the road. He was barely able to suppress a scream of horror as his best friend just _barely_ missed another car at an intersection. " Err…Shu…" 

" Isn't this _fun_, Hiro?" Shuichi demanded, his eyes glittering in excitement as he floored the accelerator, not seeming to notice the pallor of his fellow band mate's face. 

" Uh…yeah, Shu, it is…" The auburn haired boy agreed weakly, somehow managing a smile. " But…you know what? I could really use a drink right now, something preferably with some stiff alcohol…think we could maybe make a stop over at that bar nearby?" 

" You want to drink in the middle of the day?" 

" Yeah. I really, _really_ need that drink right now…" 

Shuichi shrugged, a little puzzled. He didn't think it was such a good idea to get drunk so early on in the day, but since Hiro had been nice enough to try and entertain him, he guessed he might as well go along with what his best friend wanted. " Sure, Hiro-kun. If that's what you want…" 

" And Shu?" 

" Yeah, Hiro?" 

" Can you let me be the one to drive you home? I…" Hiro paused, thinking of some way that he would be able to get Shuichi off the driver's seat with minimum blow to the pink haired boy's pride. " I really want to see how Yuki's baby drives…" 

" You've just seen how I drive!" 

" I meant the car…" 

" Oh… Sure thing then, Hiro!" The bar was coming into sight. Hiro heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that _now_ he would finally be able to get his feet onto some safe ground again. Right then and there, he decided that never again would he willingly get into a car that Shuichi was driving. 

" You _do_ know how to parallel park, right, Shu?" 

" Erm…yeah…" Shuichi reassured him, through he sounded a bit doubtful about this. "Yuki taught me how to before…but you know, I don't really remember that much about it because he was shouting at me so much about how he was going to haunt me if he died with me behind the steering wheel…" 

Hiro closed his eyes, taking deep, calming breaths. So they weren't out of the woods yet after all…He concentrated on praying to the powers that may be as Shuichi came into sight of an empty parking space. He swore to God that if he managed to get him out of this one alive, he would do his best to become a better man. No more beer binges, no more cursing, and he would donate money to charity… 

" Here we go, Hiro!" Shuichi announced their impending death cheerfully. 

Hiro took in a deep breath. There was a sickening sound of metal screeching against metal as the guitarist was thrown against his seat belt after a strong impact. After a few seconds of whimpering " Oh, God. Oh, God." Over and over again, he finally dared to open his eyes, catching sight of a wide-eyed Shuichi, staring forward into the windshield in shock.   
" Are you…are you okay, Shu?" 

Shuichi nodded woodenly, bringing his hand's up to tentatively touch his face in examination. " Yuki!" He whimpered. 

" Yeah…Yuki…" Hiro twisted around so that he could try and examine the damage to the car's bumper. It was hanging half off onto the ground. " Shu. It's been really nice knowing you. I know that you've done a lot of stupid things to get Yuki all mad at you in the past, but this, my friend. This is going to make him blow up… He's probably going to singe you to death with his cigarette butts once he sees what you've done to his beloved car. Of course, you're always welcome to hide out at my place, seeing as how you're my best friend and all…" 

With thoughts of his impending doom in his mind, Shuichi jumped when someone suddenly knocked on the driver's side window. It was a young man, he couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than himself, with longish brown hair, pale skin that reminded Shuichi of his lover's, lips that right now, were pulled down into a frown, but which you could see would have been able to form a very nice smile under better circumstances, and light blue eyes that smoldered with barely suppressed anger. Gulping, the young rock star hesitantly lowered the window, offering the guy one of his most charming smiles. " Hi! I'm Shindou Shuichi, as in, the singer of Bad Luck…" If he had hoped that the guy would recognize his name and therefore, be a little easier on him, he was sadly mistaken. The look on his face never changed. He offered his hand to be shaken, but the brown haired man just ignored it. 

" Hello, Shindou Shuichi. I'm Kobayashi Ruiji," The guy replied with a small, slightly forced looking smile, " as in, the owner of the car that you just smashed into. I think we have a little problem here…" 

~**~ To Be Continued ~**~ 

Erm...Okay...Heehee.. So how was it then? Comments would be greatly appreciated seeing as how this is my first gravitation fic and all. Tell me if you thought the characters were OOC, if the story just plain sucks and I shouldn't continue, or if you think I should continue...Heeheehee... Reviews always gets me to write faster ^_~ Heehee... 

Laree ^__^   


~**~   


[1] I don't know whether Shuichi actually knows how to drive or not… so, just for the sake of the story, I'll assume that he doesn't.   



	2. Part Two

Thank you so much to all the people that reviewed before ^__^ It was really nice to get all of that encouragement! ^__^ Erm...Someone asked why I seem to reuse the name Ruiji over and over again in my fics... Ruiji was the guy that Sendoh was trying to pick up in my MakiSen, Ruiji was Rukawa's older brother in my RuKo and now he's the crazed Shuichi fan here... Um...Well, I don't have any special reason, really... I just name male OCs Ruiji because first of all, I like the name, second, I am too lazy to go researching for male Japanese names even though I know that that is a ridiculously easy thing to do. 

Um...I know that the story is going pretty slowly so please, please forgive me for dragging it on like this... I just wanted to introduce Ruiji's character a bit more, I doubt if I've succeeded, and show his interactions with Shuichi and Hiro while he still seems all normal...   


Obsession   
Part Two 

~**~   


" I think we have a little problem here…" 

Near tears, Shuichi turned pleading, violet eyes towards the young man seated next to him on the passenger seat. It was obvious to Hiro that his best friend was about to break down from the shock of the sudden collision and the not too pretty images of what Yuki would do to him when he found out what had happened, because Shuichi knew just as well as him that this black Mercedes Benz was Yuki's pride and joy. Sighing, the Bad Luck guitarist held his hand up and gestured for Kobayashi Ruiji to wait for a few moments, before releasing himself from the seatbelt that might have very well saved his life just a few moments before, and leaning across the still frozen form of Shuichi so that he could press the controls to the power windows. He wanted to have a bit of a private talk with Shuichi before they faced the dilemma that they were currently in. "I suppose it wouldn't make you feel any better if I said 'I told you so'…" 

Shuichi sniffled and ran the back of his hand across his eyes. "You're right. It won't." 

" So I won't say 'I told you so'." 

" But you just _did_!" The pink haired singer cried indignantly, tears now falling freely down his smooth cheeks. " You just did! I never expected you to be mean enough to rub this into my face like this, Hiro! You're my…my best friend and I thought that you would be more sensitive than that!" Wailing and looking utterly pitiful and heart rending, Shuichi brought the edge of his t-shirt up to wipe his eyes. 

" I never said 'I told you so'!" Hiro protested, patting his best friend's back awkwardly in a vain attempt to comfort him. He wasn't used to making Shuichi cry like this after all, unlike certain romance novelists. 

" You said ' I won't say I told you so' and that's just an indirect way of saying 'I told you so'! So basically, you told me that you wouldn't say 'I told you so' to tell me 'I told you so' in an indirect manner!" Shuichi said in between hiccups, his frail shoulders wracked by sobs. 

Hiro hadn't understood a word that had just come out of the guy's mouth, besides the half shrieked 'I told you sos', but he decided to apologize for whatever wrong doing Shuichi had thought he had done just to get the guy to stop it with the tears. He was afraid that he would choke, what with the horrible way he was hiccupping. " I'm sorry, all right, Shu? Please. Just calm down, all right? Well fix this!" 

" The _car_!" Shuichi wailed despairingly as he buried his face into his hands. Yuki's pride and joy reduced to scrap metal. He was going to die! Singed slowly to death by Yuki's cigarette butts, just as Hiro had told him he would be. What a horrible way to go! In his admittedly over active imagination, he began to envision his 'ideal funeral', if there _was_ such a thing as that. 

Making comforting sounds at the back of his throat, Hiro took Shuichi's hand between his in a gesture of reassurance.   
" The car can be fixed. Yuki won't be back for a couple of more days, and I'm sure that some mechanic out there would be able to do the job so that the guy would never even know what happened! It would only cost a few thousand yen. Nothing you can't manage." 

" Hiro! This is a Mercedes! A foreign car that needs to be taken to a body specialist, seeing how the back is all scrunched up like an accordion! I don't know much when it comes to cars or anything, but I know enough to know that it's going to be more like _hundreds of thousands of yen_! And what about the other guy's car, Hiro? The front looks like it's completely caved in! And it's a BMW!" 

" Shu, our bank accounts are far from those of the likes of Ryuichi Sakuma and Seguchi-san, but we're also not exactly penniless nineteen year old High School drop outs. If I do say so myself, Bad Luck has been doing pretty well so far, and a few hundred thousand yen won't render you bankrupt. So relax. It's only money. We can make more of it. Just be thankful that we're still alive, and that you didn't run over that Kobayashi guy…" And Hiro was extremely grateful for the fact God had decided to give him a bit of a break, and had spared his life for the time being. He had been certain that the time if his death had come when he had felt the impact. He decided right then and there that he was going to donate some money to a charity later on, as soon as he got home. Something to do with little kids, since people were always going on and on about how the little kids were the future. 

" All right, Hiro…" Shuichi sounded a bit doubtful, but at least his sobbing had ceased. 

" You're calm." 

" I'm calm." Shuichi agreed, nodding his head adamantly. 

" You can handle this. You can handle this guy." 

" I can. I can." The rock star's head was nothing but a pink blur by now as he nodded his head furiously in total agreement. Hiro never failed to psyche him up at crucial times like these, and for that, he was eternally grateful. He knew that he would most probably have thrown himself at Kobayashi Ruiji's feet, begging for forgiveness if his best friend hadn't been there, not that he was ruling that out as of yet. He was ready to do that, if the occasion should arise. 

" You're going to coolly offer to pay for the damages you made to his car." Hiro instructed the avidly listening singer,   
" You're going to invite him into Danny's for a drink with us, you're going to make some small talk, maybe invite him over to watch that concert of ours the day after tomorrow, and then you're going to give him one of those business cards that K had printed for us, so that you look all professional and less of an idiot, and ask him to call you up when he's gotten the estimates on the car. You are _not_, under _any_ circumstances, to mention that you don't have a learner's permit, let alone, a driver's license." 

" But, Hiro! Any fan of Bad Luck knows from all the stuff in the magazines that I can't drive!" Shuichi pointed out sensibly. 

" Well, my friend. Luck seems to be at our side when it comes to that. It seems as though you were lucky enough to crash into the car of someone who isn't too keen on Bad Luck. He wasn't even impressed when you pulled that whole 'Hi, I'm Shindou Shuichi, as in, the singer of Bad Luck' crap to try and impress him. Are you ready to do what I just told you to then, Shu?" 

Shuichi nodded firmly, his jaw set resolutely. " I'm ready, Hiro-kun." And he proceeded to roll down the window that separated him from Kobayashi Ruiji.   


~**~ 

Ruiji watched the goings on inside the car, his heart racing madly within his chest. He could swear that it was drumming away so loudly that anyone nearby would be able to hear it. 

It had taken an unbelievable amount of effort, on his part, to be able to push back the urge to just yank the door to the black Mercedes open, and take the pink haired rock idol into his arms, but he had managed it. He had somehow managed to act all cool, as though he had no idea who the guy even was, when in truth, he had lived and breathed Shindou Shuichi since the very moment he had first heard the boy's earliest single. 

His idol was within reach. Separated from him just by thin wall of glass. He couldn't believe it. He felt absolutely elated. But he kept his face a blank mask, knowing that Shuichi must have enough of simpering fans by then. He had a better chance with the guy if he acted differently from all of the others, he thought, if he acted as though Shuichi's fame had no effect on him. Like the singer's lover did. 

But Yuki Eiri was an obstacle that he would pass once he got to him. He was perfectly aware of the rumors of the blond haired novelist abusing Shuichi, not physically but verbally and mentally, which Ruiji thought would hurt just as much, if not more so, rumors that the young rock star adamantly denied. And because of those rumors of Shuichi's maltreatment in the hands of that good for nothing novelist, who seemed incapable of appreciating the wonder that was Shindou Shuichi, he hated this Yuki Eiri. Hated him with all of his being. It didn't help things any, that the unappreciative fool had the young singer all to himself, when Ruiji knew perfectly well that Shuichi was supposed to be with _him_, and not with Yuki. He could give the boy so much more than that other man could. He could love him, take care of him and cherish him. He was confident that it would only take a matter of time before he managed to make Shuichi come around and see the truth: that Yuki Eiri was entirely wrong for him, and that he was meant to be with only Ruiji. 

After all of the time that he had spent planning his 'accidental' run-in with his idol, things couldn't possibly have turned out more perfectly than the current situation they were in. He wouldn't have been able to do any better than this himself, and was lucky that fate, as he had known it would, had intervened. 

His original plan had been simple. He had just intended to hang around the bar that he knew Shuichi and his best friend, Hiro, frequented and wait for the two of them to show up. And they had, only not exactly in the manner that Ruiji had expected them to. 

He had found the small club to be entirely too crowded for his taste, even this early on in the day, and had gone out for a smoke by his car, which had been a present from his father for his twenty-second birthday. 

He didn't know how long he had been standing there before the black Mercedes Convertible had come careening down the road, and into the parking space before his car. Time was of little consequence in things concerning Shuichi Shindou, but he had been hanging around there long enough so that there was a steadily growing pile of cigarette butts by his feet. 

Seeing the seemingly out of control car coming his way, Ruiji had jumped back up onto the curb, and watched with horror as the black vehicle slammed into the front of his car. He had been just about ready to rip the head off whoever was 'driving' the offending vehicle, when the window had rolled down, and he was treated with the sight of the awkwardly smiling face of the man who haunted his dreams. For a while, he had been speechless, thinking that it was all just a dream, that he had been thinking so much about the guy lately that he was finally having hallucinations. But then, the pink haired man had spoken, and the sweet, familiar voice that millions of people around Japan loved, reassured him that this was real, that he really was face to face with Shuichi Shindou. 

He allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. Things were turning out _so_ wonderfully. He had never expected such a break! After an accident like this, it was only natural that he and Shuichi exchange phone numbers so that they could get in touch with each other, and after that, who knew what else could happen? 

He could invite Shuichi out for a bit of dinner later on maybe, pretend that they needed to talk some things about his insurance over or crap like that. That was all the opportunity that he needed… 

He knew everything there was to know about Shuichi Shindou. He knew what kind of breakfast cereal he liked to eat, that he preferred boxers over briefs, what kind of hair dye he used, little things like that which people wouldn't think were so important. But Ruiji had stored away those little pieces of information for future reference, he could use them, he knew. 

With just a little time, he would be able to make Shuichi come around and see that Yuki Eiri and himself were just too damn incompatible to work out, and once the rock star came to that conclusion himself, with a little push in the right direction from Ruiji, of course, Kobayashi Ruiji was going to be the first one in line to offer him comfort from his heart break. 

His train of thoughts were abruptly interrupted when the driver's side window of the car were lowered. A slightly nervous, though obviously more in control Shuichi poked his head out, a hopeful little smile still on his lips. " Kobayashi-san?" 

" Yes, Shindou-san?" 

" I am so sorry, so sorry about the car…" Shuichi's head bobbed down repeatedly into little bows of penitence, his sincerity obvious. Once more, Ruiji was overtaken by the sudden urge to hug his idol. " The least that I can do, Kobayashi-san, is to pay for the damages that I have caused! I am sincerely, sincerely sorry…" The boy went off into another round of mad bowing. 

Clucking his tongue in disgust, Hiro pushed his friend back onto his seat so that he could address the older man.   
" Kobayashi-san, I am Nakano Hiroshi." 

" I am pleased to meet you, Nakano-san, even under such straining circumstances." 

" Same here, Kobayashi-san. Perhaps you would care to join my friend and I for a drink. We would be able to discuss more things inside Danny's, I believe." Hiro suggested. After Ruiji had accepted the offer, the red haired guitarist slipped out of his seat and pulled Shuichi out after him. 

He led his two companions into the bar, and made idle chatter as they were seated at a secluded booth by one corner. As usual, he was going to have to be the one to clean up his best friend's mess. He was so used to it by then that he just automatically assumed the role, even if Shuichi hadn't asked him to. 

Luckily enough, though, this Kobayashi person seemed to be a decent guy, and wasn't at all difficult to talk to. After a few drinks had loosened their tongues, and Shuichi had wept openly about his worthlessness, to which Ruiji had replied by giving him a tight, lingering hug of reassurance, they were on first name basis with each other and were laughing and talking like old pals. 

" You nearly gave me a heart attack there when I saw your car coming at me!" Ruiji informed them, a small smirk on his lips as he brought up his glass of beer for a long draught. He couldn't believe how natural it felt to be hanging out with those two. Shuichi was even lovelier in person than he was on T.V, or in the magazines. He was so down to earth, so incredibly friendly. In short, in his rather biased opinion, the pink haired rock star was absolutely _perfect_. 

Hiro snorted. " At least you weren't actually _in_ the car with him. I nearly peed my pants a couple of times because of his driving!" 

" But Hiro! I thought you said that I was doing all right!" 

" Of course I said that, Shu! It wouldn't have helped our situation out any if you had burst into tears behind the wheel because you thought I was making fun of your driving skills which, even _you_ have to admit now, is a joke!" 

" I'd be more than happy to teach you how to drive, Shuichi-san." Ruiji informed the younger boy, trying to appear as off handed as possible. Inwardly, he was praying for all the gods in the heavens to make Shuichi say yes. 

The boy's bright, purple eyes widened in surprise. Was the guy _serious_. How could he possibly offer to do such a thing after he had just seen him completely demolish his car? This Ruiji Kobayashi guy seemed to be forgiving as well as brave, or was he just stupid? "You serious?" 

" Yeah." Ruiji shrugged, his blue eyes glinting evilly. " How much more damage can you do? My car is already a wreck anyways…" Chuckling, he leaned across the table to give Hiro a high five. Shuichi just pouted, watching the two who seemed to be getting along very well with each other. " How about tomorrow?" 

" Wow, you sure seem eager to meet an early death." Hiro commented, pursing his lips thoughtfully. " But anyways, tomorrow wouldn't be any good for Shu. We've got practice for that concert that were going to be performing the day after, and Shu can't miss all the sound checks and stuff…" 

" But you can drop by, you know." Shuichi put in with a small shrug. " Our friends usually do anyways, so that you can get a behind the scenes look at a Bad Luck concert and stuff. And I'm going to be asking Sakano-san, that's our producer, to take care of the whole car crash thing; he's good with these sort of scenarios. No one knows insurance stuff better than that guy. I guess you should meet him so that we could all talk this over." Shuichi rummaged around in his wallet for the business card that he knew was there. Borrowing a ballpoint pen from Ruiji, he hurriedly scrawled down the number to his mobile phone, and home phone number at the back. " There. You can just call me up if you need to get in touch and stuff." 

" Thanks. I'll do that." Ruiji replied with a grin as he pocketed the small card. He was so happy with his accomplishment that he was barely listening to Hiro's stories about their rather eccentric manager named K. 

Contact had finally been made, an invitation to tomorrow's practice received, and Shuichi's home phone number obtained. Wow. He was really doing far better than he had ever expected…   


~**~ To Be Continued ~**~   
  



	3. Part Three

It took me quite a long time to post this, I know. I'm sorry...Ehehehe.. Been trying to finish my SD fics and been working on my first Saiyuki ficcy which I should be posting soon... Hmm... Anyways, comments, ne? Heehehee... 

Laree 

Obsession   
Part Three 

~**~ 

Nothing pissed Yuki off more than book signing sessions. Sure, sometimes Shuichi's incessant babbling about the most inane things made him feel like strangling the pink haired kid once in a while, but book signing sessions took the cake as his pet peeve. 

He just hated them. 

Being an author, and a rather good one too in the biased opinion of his numerous, and predominantly female fans, fans who seemed to think that the better looking you happened to be, the more profound and gut wrenching the crap that you typed was (It didn't matter to them that his sexual tension charged, erotic masterpiece of a romance novel filled with heaving, snow white bosoms and broad manly chests had been produced while he'd been half drunk and pondering the whole point and meaning of his life when his whole existence consisted of coming up with idiotic, romantic drivel that half of the time made him want to go and puke his guts out), he could come up with several ways in which to describe how he felt about these occasions. 

He had a wide vocabulary that spanned several languages of some very colorful and inventive curses that he could have drawn on, but he was tired. He was drained from having to spend two hours in a roomful of gushing females, his hand was aching from having to sign his name over and over again on countless books, his ribs hurt from the enthusiastic hugs that his fans had insisted on giving him and which his agent had insisted would be good for publicity (like he bloody cared about publicity), and his face was beginning to ache from having had to smile so much, if you could call the unpleasant little grimace that had been on his face a smile. 

Therefore, when he collapsed, completely exhausted onto the king size bed in his hotel room, only one thought was running through his mind: I hate book signing sessions. Sheer and utter loathing would be too mild a way to put how I feel about them to words. I hate them to the very marrow of my bones and to the very core of my soul. 

Yuki wasn't a social person at the best of times so it was understandable why he should be so out of sorts after being shoved into a roomful of squealing, excited strangers who all seemed to want to grope him. 

Still, he had the presence of mind to store away the promising last line of his previous thought. Just change a few words and you had a winner there. 'My love for you penetrates to the very marrow of my bones and to the very core of my soul'. That should have those female fans of his swooning. 

Add a couple of more lines about the handsome hunk of a hero's love for the beautiful, demure woman from the wrong side of the tracks being as ceaseless as the waves crashing against the shore and as inevitable as the rising of the sun in the sky every morning and those stupid women would be as raring to go as anything, dragging their poor, potbellied husbands into their bedrooms for a bit of 'sexual tension' relief. 

He was doing Japan's population a great service by writing these books, igniting the fires of the decidedly uninspired sex lives of thousands of urban middle-class Japanese couples, or at least the feminine half of said couples anyway, but good god…it was horrible how he was beginning to regularly come up with such stupid, sappy crap without even meaning to! 

It wasn't as though Shuichi inspired those thoughts! No, the only thoughts that that guy inspired in his mind were of murder and once in a while, well okay, a lot of the time, he served as Yuki's muse when he dreamed up clever little bed games involving several cans of whipped cream, a feather, some cherries and a Polaroid camera. So where the hell was he getting all this romantic, smut romance material? The gods knew that romance wasn't in his nature. He was mean and proud of it. 

If he'd tried to write a novel based on their relationship, not that he would ever actually be crazy enough to attempt such a thing, then it would probably turn out to be some weird, psychological thriller about how a kid one day invades the apartment of a promising and talented writer and makes himself comfortable, refusing to leave and holding aforementioned writer under his control through great sex and disgusting sweetness. 

Slowly the poor writer would be driven insane from being constantly subjected to ceaseless whining, enthusiastic glomping, piercing cries of 'Yuuuuuuuukkkkki!' that haunted him in his dreams, and stories about how a gun toting band manager had chased the poor, victimized kid through the record company building just because he happened to be a couple of hours late for a meeting. 

It was a good idea for a book, but was a little too close to home for comfort. 

Home. Where the idiot Shuichi was. Where the idiot Shuichi was currently home alone. 

Yuki pushed himself up into a sitting position, golden eyes wide. He needed a cigarette. He patted around the pockets of his jacket until he found a pack of them and lit up, taking deep, soothing drags. 

He was going to pay one day for smoking like a fucking chimney, but that didn't matter right then. He could worry about that on his deathbed as they hooked him up to some artificial lung machine or whatever. Then he could afford to be pissed at himself. What mattered right now, though, were the images of utter mayhem in his mind as he imagined several scenarios that came as a result of leaving the accident prone Shuichi unsupervised. 

Was there still a home standing now? He wouldn't put it past Shuichi and his almost astounding aptitude towards chaos to be able to level their apartment building to the ground within the short span of a few days. 

His original plan of action upon reaching his hotel room had been to order room service. He hadn't wanted to go out for dinner and besides, he could have vented out all of his frustration on the unfortunate that happened to answer his call (he would have preferred his usual emotional punching bag, but he wasn't around). 

He had been planning on being thoroughly unpleasant, just enough so that the person would wish eternal damnation upon his soul in the deepest, darkest pit of hell, then he would have made up for everything with a ridiculously big tip. Yes. It was so easy and convenient venting your frustrations out on an innocent. 

And then of course, Shuichi had to ruin his plans for the evening by making him call home out of concern for the state of his apartment, and only that. 

He had no other reason to call. Of course he didn't. It wasn't as though he missed the little idiot. Who would miss being tackled as soon as he set foot past the threshold? Who would miss ear piercing cries and the relentless pounding of your eardrums? 

He was only going to call home to check up on the state of things, not because he missed the kid. 

But if he called home, couldn't the grossly delusional j-pop star get the wrong conclusions and start thinking that perhaps in some tiny, tiny, deeply disturbed and insane part of Yuki, he might just like having him around? How could he get Shuichi to ever leave him alone then? 

Of course, he refused to acknowledge the fact that he had done very little lately to encourage the younger man's departure besides being his usual, rather unpleasant self. He'd always thought that that would be more than enough, but he still insisted on staying. 

Shuichi either felt more deeply for him than he had ever imagined possible or was just too plain stupid to see that their so called 'relationship' was just perverse and self-destructive, a bastardization of the whole concept of love, as Touma had put it once in the earlier stages. 

Touma didn't think that a relationship that consisted mainly of a lot of yelling and cursing and cries of 'Idiot!' on Yuki's part, and a lot of crying and carrying on and bothersome hyperactivity on the musical idol's part was very healthy. 

Of course Touma wasn't around to witness the times when Yuki simply held Shuichi against him as they both drowsed off after making love, he'd never heard the undercurrent of concern in the fair haired writer's tone of voice while scolding Shuichi for his idiocy after he'd managed to hurt himself some way or the other, Touma had never seen Yuki as he watched Shuichi sleeping, marveling at the way that his lover's chest rose and fell in time with his steady breathing, his usually piercing golden eyes softened by the simple satisfaction of having someone to hold into the night. 

Touma didn't know about those things and so he wouldn't know that the relationship between him and Shuichi wasn't all bad. Troublesome? Yes, most definitely. Disturbing? At times. Wrong? Most probably. But something that should just be discarded because of a few rough spots along the way? No. Not anytime soon. And not if Yuki could help it. 

He smirked. Wasn't it too bad that he couldn't feel this way towards Shuichi when the kid was actually within the vicinity? Things would certainly be a lot more peaceful within the Yuki household then. The Yuki-Shindou household, he corrected himself, after a bit of thought. And after some more consideration, he decided to scratch that. Peace with Shuichi around just was not attainable. He had to come to grips with that no matter how much he didn't like it. 

And in the first place, what the hell had he been thinking leaving the idiot alone like that? That had been an act of sheer lunacy! 

At the very least he could have asked Touma to drop in once in a while to make sure that Shuichi hadn't come across death by some sort of unfortunate misadventure with the toaster, the microwave, countless other electrical appliances, things that the idiot could stick his finger or various other bodily appendages into or combustible materials. He was pretty sure that Touma would have agreed to do that. If for no other reason than Shuichi was an investment of his. 

Who knew what he was doing? Who knew who he might be with? At that thought Yuki's eyes narrowed dangerously in a way that Shuichi would have recognized, had he been around, as the cue for him to slip very, very quietly away if he truly valued his life. 

There was Hiro for one. The best friend. Sure, he was supposed to be happy with Ayaka and everything but Yuki trusted the guy about as much as he would trust advice from Shuichi about grammar structure and spelling in his writing. 

Wouldn't this be the perfect time for seduction? 

He could just about picture the scenario. Shuichi pining away for him at their apartment, staring disconsolately out of the window, watching for any signs of his beloved (himself, of course) out on the streets. The door would burst open, the kid never bothered to lock the door even though Yuki had told him thousands of times before that he would get them both killed because of that particular bad habit, and Hiro, that bastard, would come in, looking dashing in one of those poufy shirts that you saw the models on the covers of the cheesy romance novels wearing, the kind that down and out, but unbelievably chiseled stable hands wore. 

Then the Bad Luck guitarist would sweep the smaller boy into his arms, Shuichi would make a few, half hearted efforts to resist, but since he was worn out from being away from Yuki for two straight, horrible days, he would eventually give in and allow his 'best friend' to make wild, animal love to him on their apartment floor. 

Damn his overactive writer's imagination to hell! It was useful sometimes, but not in this particular situation when his idiot boyfriend was several hundred miles away where he couldn't keep his eyes on him. 

And another horrible thought, this time concerning Ryuichi Sakuma. Sure the guy acted like the world's biggest six year old, leading Yuki to the conclusion that he had to suffer from some sort of mild mental retardation, no matter how many times Touma had told him otherwise, sure he seemed harmless enough, if a bit too frighteningly…upbeat for Yuki's taste, but really, when he thought about it, he was still a thirty plus year old man with boundless energy who liked to 'play' a lot with Shuichi. 

Lots of touching and hugging and little kisses went on between those two, he knew. He had to be up to something will all of that! He was a hyperactive and no doubt, horny, close to middle aged man who liked to play wrestle around with his decidedly too naïve for his own good boyfriend! 

That was the thought that finally got to him. He couldn't stand the image of that idiotic, bright pink stuffed bunny that Sakuma always carried around with him lying discarded off to one side, the silent witness to the Nittle Grasper singer and Shuichi's playful, energetic love making. 

Yuki lunged for the phone. He dialed the number to his apartment as quickly as he could and listened to the distant ringing at the other end of the line. Shuichi should be home by then. Bad luck was supposed to have some rehearsal for a concert in downtown Tokyo, but they'd started in the morning and should have wrapped up by this time. 

With Shuichi sick with loneliness and pining away for him, he'd probably gone right home to mope around in the off chance that he might call. He wasn't the needy one in this relationship. It was Shuichi that was. 

One ring, then another. No one was answering. What the hell was Shuichi doing? He usually jumped to answer the phone whenever it rang. The phone ringing was, to Shuichi, like a thrown stick to a trained dog. 

With each unanswered ring, Yuki's apprehension increased. Good God. Something had happened to the idiot! He fumbled around on the bed spread for the newspaper that he knew he had thrown there that morning. If Shuichi had been injured or maybe kidnapped (the gods help the kidnapper, Yuki couldn't help thinking, even in the midst of his rapidly increasing anxiety), then it should have been written about. After all, the idiot was rather famous because of his 'singing', more appropriately referred to as 'caterwauling' by Yuki, 

So he thumbed through the paper in search for any glaring headlines about J-pop idols burning down their apartment buildings while trying to make some toast for breakfast, all the while listening for Shuichi's voice on the other end of the line. 

There was an article in the entertainment section about Shuichi and Bad Luck's upcoming concert, but nothing about him having come to some untimely demise. 

Yuki had just been about to slam the receiver of the phone back down into its cradle so that he could try calling on the singer's mobile when there was a soft clicking sound. 

" Hello?" 

He blinked. The voice that had answered had been completely unfamiliar. It most definitely didn't sound like Hiro and it didn't have that on edge, perpetually high-strung tone of Sakuma Ryuichi's voice. 

Besides, that man never answered the phone with a simple 'hello'. Usually Sakuma would carry on an elaborate little dialogue, thinking that his pitching his voice a few octaves higher would actually convince the person he was speaking to on the phone that his beloved little Kumagorou was the one they were talking to. God how he hated that rabbit. 

The query was repeated. " Hello?" 

" Who is this?" The novelist demanded. He was sure that he hadn't dialed the wrong number. 

" Ruiji." 

Now in spite of the fact that Yuki had as little to do with them as he possibly could, he actually knew pretty much every one of Shuichi's friends and he'd never heard any mention of a 'Ruiji' before. This made him curious. " Are you one of the idiot's friends?" 

A pause, and then, " Excuse me?" 

" Are you one of Shuichi's friends?" So much for Shuichi pining away for him all alone in that empty apartment… 

" You call Shu-chan an idiot?" There was disbelief in the man's tone, as though this were some sort of sacrilege, as though he found it amazing that someone would actually call Shuichi that. Obviously this Ruiji didn't know the pink haired teen as well as he did. 

" I do, as a matter of fact. On quite a regular basis. Give the phone to Shuichi. I want to know why he's letting strange people into my apartment."   


~**~ 

" You guys were really, really great today! It was so nice of the two of you to invite me to come and watch your rehearsal! Thanks so much!" Hiro had pretty much lost count of all the times that the guy had gushed over them. Not that he minded very much. 

And obviously Shuichi loved having so much attention lavished upon him. It wasn't as though Yuki ever made it a point to tell Shuichi how much he liked his music, because Yuki usually did the exact opposite, so it was only understandable that he should soak up the praise like a flower would absorb the sun's rays. 

It was nice to know that they'd made another fan. And nice to be reassured that Ruiji wouldn't be dragging Shuichi's licenceless ass off to court any time soon for damages. 

In fact, the guy had been remarkably nice about everything, agreeing to settle things without their insurance agents (not that Shuichi actually had one), even going to all the trouble of recommending a great body repair specialist that he knew. 

" Ne, Rui-chan, when did that guy say that I could get the car back?" Throughout the course of the day, Shuichi and Ruiji had gotten decidedly more and more friendly with each other, to the point that the Bad Luck singer had invited the older man back to his apartment with him and Hiro for a drink. 

Ruiji shrugged. " He said in a couple of days…" 

The pink haired singer clapped his hands together in glee, his face lighting up at this. " Good! It should be back before Yuki comes home then!" He was saved! 

He'd spent the previous night tossing and turning, imagining all the torture that the author might put him through once he found out about what had happened to his beloved car. He never would have thought that the prospect of his Yuki coming home would fill him with so much dread, but that was the way that he'd felt the night before. He'd even been considering moving in with Hiro for a while as he waited for Yuki to cool down. 

Ruiji's face darkened imperceptibly. Yuki again. Shuichi had a habit of sprinkling his conversation with generous amounts of anecdotes about this Yuki and each mention of the guys name just made him even more determined to succeed in what he'd set out to do. The more he learned about this famous novelist from Shuichi, the more it seemed to Ruiji that he didn't deserve to have Shuichi around. 

Yuki, to him, seemed like a bastard, and Hiro's opinion about the guy seemed to run along the same lines as his, only he kept quiet because he knew how much Yuki meant to his best friend. 

" Oi! Rui-chan!" The singer's voice interrupted his thoughts. Shuichi had risen from where he had been sitting on the floor by Hiro's feet. " Are you listening to me? Do you want a drink? I think there's some of Yuki's beer left in the fridge. He wouldn't mind if you had one. I'll just replace them before he gets back." 

" Sure, Shu. Thanks." 

As soon as Shuichi had disappeared into the kitchen, there were several loud, shrill peals from the phone. 

" Someone get that!" came Shuichi's disembodied voice, slightly muffled due to the fact that he'd poked the entire upper half of his body into the fridge. 

Ruiji looked expectantly at Hiro, who was sitting on one of the armchairs staring into the huge T.V screen. He had thought that the guitarist would be the one to get it since judging from the way he conducted himself; he was apparently perfectly at home in the place, which was actually true whenever Yuki wasn't around. 

Hiro made no sign that he'd even heard the phone, though, so Ruiji picked himself up and answered it himself. 

The Bad Luck guitarist languidly ran his hands through his longish hair as he listened idly to Ruiji conversing with the person on the other end of the line. When he heard the ' You call Shu-chan an idiot?' comment, he figured out immediately who it was that their new friend had been speaking to. " Oi! Shuichi! It's Yuki!" he shouted and in a lower tone of voice he muttered, " God help you…" 

The pink haired singer dashed to the doorway that led to the living room and began to gesture madly at Ruiji for him to put down the phone. 

Hiro had never thought he'd see the day when Shuichi would actually wave away a phone with Yuki on the other end of the line. 

He could see, though, why Shuichi might not want to talk to the guy right then. His friend had never been much of a liar, especially not with something concerning Yuki, and that no good writer would probably figure out right away just from Shuichi's nervousness as he spoke to him that something suspicious was going on. 

" Tell him I'm taking a bath or something!" The singer hissed theatrically. 

" It's too late, Shu-chan." Ruiji told him apologetically, holding the receiver out towards him with a small, sheepish smile. As much as he may have wanted to slam the phone right back on its receiver with Yuki on the other end of the line, he didn't think that that would make a very good impression on the two band members. " I already told him you were gonna come talk to him in a bit. Besides, he heard Hiro-kun calling for you." 

Shuichi was looking decidedly nervous as he took the phone from the Ruiji's outstretched hand. He wasn't as stupid as many people thought him to be, he knew perfectly well that Yuki would be able to hear any nervousness in his tone and would immediately be alerted. Yuki always did. He gave Hiro a haunted, deer caught in the headlights look before tentatively speaking into the receiver. " Hello? Yuki?"   


~**~ 

That voice. Yuki leaned back against the bed's headboard. He'd expected to feel a rush of relief upon hearing Shuichi, he'd been having some admittedly fond thoughts towards the younger man just a while before after all, but he didn't. 

He was pissed. He was pissed that it had taken so long for Shuichi to answer the phone, he was pissed that it hadn't been Shuichi that had answered in the first place, pissed that there was a stranger in his home, pissed that he sounded none too pleased to talk to him, and now he was pissed because of the trepidation that he sensed in the singer's tone, as though he expected Yuki to burst out of the receiver and bite his head off. " What the hell is the matter with you?" 

" I haven't done anything, Yuki! I swear!" 

The whining had begun. Good god, had he really missed this? And where were the choked back sobs? The proclamations of undying love? The claims that he would just die if he was separated from him for much longer? Things weren't going as he'd thought they would. And if anything, Shuichi reassuring him that he hadn't done anything only made him more suspicious. " Who's this Ruiji guy and what's he doing in my apartment?" 

" He's…well, a friend." 

" How come I've never heard of him before then?" Yuki demanded. Yeap. Something was definitely going on here and he had the feeling that he wouldn't like whatever it was. 

" He's a new friend?" Shuichi ventured tentatively, sounding terribly unsure about it. 

In his imagination Yuki could picture the rusty cogs and wheels in Shuichi's mind turning slowly as he actually tried to think. He sighed imperceptibly. Well, he hadn't been expecting any intellectually stimulating conversation from the idiot anyways. You just couldn't, because if you did, then you'd be terribly disappointed. " Everything all right? You haven't burned the apartment down yet, have you?" 

" Not yet…" 

" Any plans to in the near future?" Yuki asked sarcastically. 

" No. I don't think so. You'd get angry at me if I did." Shuichi pointed out. 

Ahh. So the kid was learning. " Good. Until I get back, do us both a favor. If you don't want the two of us to end up with our asses on the street, don't try to cook. Buy some of that microwave meals thing or get take out or something. Just don't touch the stove, dammit." 

" I won't Yuki." 

" All right. No accidents or anything? You're still whole? No part of you accidentally cut off or amputated?" There was a choking sound at the other end of the line. He could hear Hiro's unmistakable voice in the background advising Shuichi to get a hold of himself, dammit, Ruiji asking worriedly if Shu-chan was all right. 

No, he most definitely did not like Shuichi's reaction to his question. Something was most definitely up. The idiot was trying to hide something. He always knew when Shuichi was trying to put something past him. Thank god the guy was such an awful liar. But Yuki held his tongue, simply waiting for his answer. 

It took a while but finally, he got it, Shuichi's voice wavering just the slightest bit. " No, Yuki. No accidents." 

" Fine." He replied brusquely. " I'll see you in a few days." 

" All right, Yuki. See you." 

Then the line was cut and Yuki sat on his bed staring stupidly at the phone in his hand. 

See you? See you? That was all? He was outraged. No 'I love you, Yuki!'? Not even an ' I can't wait to have you back here Yuki! I've missed you!'? Not that it really mattered, but he'd come to expect such gushing remarks from his partner. 

Well, that clinched it. He was going home. Tonight, no matter what the hell his agent said. He could tell her that there was an emergency back home, Shuichi had gotten himself into a right pretty mess and needed him around to clear things out. 

He was going to see what the hell was eating the idiot because as long as he was hundreds of miles away from him, he knew that he would be totally unable to keep his mind off Shuichi and his strange behavior. 

Put simply, it would just help him feel a lot better about things if he could just see him. 

~**~ To Be Continued ~**~   



End file.
